Boiler pressure regulator



Juy 16, '1935. c; M. BAILEY 2,008,125

BOILER vPRESSURE REGULATOR Filed Ma-rch 27, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l m 4mlm" .Ffg i Lllli '3 IIIIIUT 27 ChasMBadqg BY@ .um

ATTORNEY .Fully 16, 1935. c. M. BAILEY BOILER PRESSURE REGULATOR FiledMarch 2'?, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Cha@ May ATTORNEY Patented July 16,1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIICE t.

nomia PRESSURE REGULATOR` Charles M. Bailey,rSan Francisco, Calif.Applicatie March 21, 1933, serial No. 662,921. u V iz, claims'. (c1.2777-46) This invention relates to steam boilers and particularly to adevice for automatically controlling the nre by means'of the boilerpressure.

The principal object of my invention is toprovide a regulator andgovernor structure adapted to be connected to the steam line-and to theoil line of an oil burner, and so arranged that when the boiler pressureexceeds av predetermined amount itwill affect the oil now so that thein-4 tensity of the i'ire is reduced, so as toultimately cause areduction of the boiler pressure to be had. This in turn will cause there to be again increased in intensity raising the boiler pres sure andsubsequently causing another nre decreasing action to be had and sov onindefinitely.

The various control features`v ofthe device being individually andreadily adjusted, the structure may beset to operate at any steampressure, and the oil line pressure which determines the intensity orvolume of the fire may also be separately regulated andraccording to theconditions met with in anyiparticular installation.

A further object is toprovide as a part of the regulator a means forpreventing the building up of anoil pressure and the consequentoperation ofthe burner with an excessive intensity, in the event thatthe steam control mechanism for reducing the oil pressure does notfunction;

A further object of the. invention is to produce a simple andinexpensive device and yet-one which will be exceedingly effective forthe purpose for which it is designed. v

These objects I accomplish by means 'of such structure and relativearrangement' of parts as will fully appear' by a perusal of the.following specication and claims.

In the drawings characters oirefe'renceindicate corresponding parts inthe several views:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of'mv improved regulating structure.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the oil pressure con-V trol unit of thedevice. 1

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of thesametaken on the line 3-3 of Figi. y 1

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the complete oil and steam linesystem in connection with the regulator. 5

Referringnow more particularly to the characters of reference on'thedrawings, the regulator comprises a steam actuated unit A andk anoilpressure controlling unit B connected thereto. The unit A comprises apreferably horizontal chamber I having a iiexible diaphragm 2 extendingacross the same and dividing the chamber into two separate compartments.A steam inlet 3` is formed on the chamber centraliy above the diaphragmbeing connectedwith a pipe Il leading fromthe steam dome of the boiler5. A cup 5. resting on the diaphragm surroundsl thesteam intake andreceives the direct pressure vof the steam to depress the diaphragm.`The under side of the. diaphragm is engaged by a disc against which oneend of a compression spring 8 bears. The lower end of the spring bearsagainstr a washer 9 supported forvertical adjustment by a hand `screw I0threaded in the bottom of the. casing II provided with arms 'I2 so as tosupport the latter while exposing the hand screw.ior manipulation, saidarms being connected at their lower endslto avbase pad I 3. A packinggland I4 isvmoun'ted in the pad and slidably engages a rod I 5 whichextends upwardly through the hand screw and spring to engage the disc l.Upon the diaphragm and disc being depressed by a steam pressure'inexcess of the resistance of the spring the rod t5 willvbe lowered as.will be evident.

The above-structure. in itself 4"is of standard or conventional form butI use it in connection with the oil pressure regulating unit B inacertain manner to attain the desired result.

Therod I5 projects' belowthe pad and packing gland into the unit` B.Said unit comprises a body` i6. having a top ange I'I intermediate itsends engaging and connected to the pad f3 in a pressure tight manner. Atone endvthebodyis formed with an oilintake chamber' i8' to which a pipeI9 is connected. This pipeleads from the discharge orv pressure side ofa suitable pump 2i);

the oil burner 2 I for thel boiler 5 being connected to said pipebetween the pump and the regulating unit. lI'he opposite end of the bodyis formed with 'another chamber 22 connected to an oil pipe23 whichleads back to the suction side of the pump as shown in Fig. 4.

The chamber 22 communicates with an inter-` mediate chamber 24 throughopenings 25 forming valve seats normally engaged by a double headedvalve 26 mounted for vertical movement and opening in the direction ofthe chamber 22. This-valve is normally held against its seats by acompression spring 2l and .its upper end supports the lower Vend of therod I5. When the rod is lowered by the 'steam pressure acting againstthe diaphragm as previously explained the valve is opened` against theresistance of the relatively Weak spring 2l .and communication isestablished between the chamber 22 and 24.

The chamber I8 has communication with the.

chamber 24 only through a port 28 forming a seat for a valve 29 normallyengaging the same and opening away from the chamber I8. This valve isyieldably and adjustably held against its seat by a compression spring30 enclosed within a housing 3i connected to the body vand adjusted asto its pressing action by ahand screw 32 mounted in the outer end of thehousing and normally enclosed by a cap 33. In this manner no oilcanpossibly leak out of the unit when the valve is open and thenecessity for the use of a packing glandv about the valve shank andwhich would interfere'with its freedom of action is eliminated.

The chamber 22 also has additional communication with the chamber 2liAby a port 34 normally closed by a Valve 35 opening away from the chamber24. This valve is also engaged and normally held against its seat by anadjustable spring 36 enclosed in a housing 31 preferably mounted and.-

controlled in the same manner as the spring 30 by an adjustable handscrew 38. For convenience l of manufacture and operation the housings 3land 31 project laterally from the body I3 in parallel relation to eachother. From the above description and upon a consideration of Fig. 3particularly it will be seen that the port 34 is in effect a by-passbetween the chambers I8 and 22 which under certain conditions allows ofa ilow of oil between said chambers without. passing the valve 2B.

Incperation it will be seen that the oil 4pump tends to circulate oilthrough the pipe ISgahead of the burner Yto the latter and back tothe,suction .side of the pump throughthe portion of the pipe I9 beyond theburner, the regulating unit and the pipe 23. If all the valves of theregulating unit are held closed all the pressure generated by the pumppasses to the burner and the latter burns with an intensity known asahigh fire; The valve 29 is set to open with a relatively low pressureor about 5 lbs. so as to maintain a low fire, but the opening of thisvalve does not affect the intensity of the fire unless either the valve26 or the valve 35 is open also. When the steam pressure raises byreason of the high re beyond the predetermined limit which the spring 8is set to resist, the valve 26 opens. Communication is then freelyestablished from the intake chamber I8 to the chamber 24 by reason or"the weak valve 29, and from said chamber 24 to the chamber 22 throughthe ports 25. The oil therefore circulates from the pump through theregulating unit and returns to the suction side of the pump through thepipe 23. Only suflicient oil pressure is then fed to the burner such aswill maintain a low rire, such pressure being that for which the valve29 is set and which may be adjusted to suit any given condition. l Whenthe valve 26 again closes with the lowering of the steam pressure due tothe use of steam or to the eifect of the low fire, the relativelyunrestricted ow of the oil back` to the pump through the pipe 23 isagain cut off and all the oil pressure will again pass to the burner,restoring the high fire condition., VThe intensity of the nre is thusautomatically controlled as vthe steam pressure fluctuates so that saidpressure may be kept at any desired amount within close limits, withoutany manual attention of the burner being necessary.- I v The by-passvalve 35 prevents the building up of an excessive pressure at the burner.irrespective 10i the opening ofY the steam control valve 26, the spring36 being preferably stronger than the spring 30 and being set to open at50 lbs. or whatever pressure is desired.V In any event however theresistance of said spring 36 will be greater than the correspondingsteam pressure necessary to open the valve 26. Communication will bethus established between the chambers I8 and 24 past the valve 29 andfrom the latter chamber to the outlet chamber 22 past the valve 35. This`will permit a certain amount of oil to pass back tothe pump and willrelieve the pressure at the burner sufficiently to prevent theexrces'sively high nre which would otherwise result.

From the' foregoing description it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fuliillsthe objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims. 1

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and'useful anddesire` to secure by LettersfPatent is:

l. A three-valve pressure regulating structure comprising a unitary'body having inlet and outlet openings at its `opposite ends axiallyalined with each other, walls in said body dividing the same into an`inlet chamber, an outlet chamber and an intermediate chamber; theintermediate chamber at the front extending in front` of. the inletchamber and the outlet chamber extending in front of the adjacentportion of the intermediate chamber and'also above the latter,valve-seat ports inthe front walls, of the inlet and intermediateYchambers inA communication with the corresponding portions of theintermediate and outlet chambers respectively, forwardly opening valvesin said^chambers cooperating with` the corresponding ports, adjustabletensioning means for the valves, parallel housings 1in which the valvesand ,tensioning means are mounted se-Y cured to and projecting outwardlyfrom the front wall of the body, a valve-seat port in the top wall ofthe intermediate chamber in communi-A cation with the correspondingportion of the outlet chamber, a normally closed valve cooperating withsaid port and opening inwardly of said intermediate chamber, andi'control means. for opening said. Valve mounted on and'upstanding fromthe body.

2. A'three-valve pressure regulating structure comprising a unitarybody` having inlet and outletV openings at its'opposite ends' axiallyalined with each other, wallsV in said body dividing the same into aninlet chamber, an outlet chamber and an intermediate ohamben'normallyclosed valves controlling communication between the inlet andintermediatechambers and between the intermediate and outlet chambers,manually adjustable valve tensioning means projecting outwardly from onefaceof the body,ranother nor.- mally closed valve controllingcommunication between the intermediate and outlet chambers, and pressureactuated means for opening said valve mounted on and extendingVoutwardly from the body'in a plane at right angles to the manuallyadjustablemeans. CHARLES M. BAILEY.

